Before I get started, let me say that for a minute, I thought about not picking up ANY shows this season. Again, there’s just a complete lack of yuri-ish shows (except probably YuYuYu), and I’ve never been into Demon Slayer or any of these other shows that have new seasons. And none of these other shows seem like they’re “must-see” material, so I was really tempted to just sit this season out. But we’re already not doing a News Update this month (more on that later), so we can’t not do a First Impressions post either. Enough of my rambling. Here are our thoughts on the fall anime season that just began~

It’s simple. I see Wit Studio involved, and I’m instantly interested. Earlier this year, Vivy was really good, and this had a really charming look to it, so that was enough to sway me to watch this. I’m usually not the biggest fan of “coming of age” stories (since they’re often too cliche), and I was initially put-off by the kiddie look of this, but I really liked this first episode! You can’t help but root for Prince Bojji, and he just seems like such a likable little character. Kage has all the makings of a pretty nice bad guy with a hidden heart of gold, and even the supporting characters seem interesting.

The story also seems like it has a lot of potential, yet I just don’t want anything bad to happen to Bojji. He’s so cute and wholesome that even the villagers badmouthing him was a little upsetting to me, though it seems like he’s more capable than what he looks. The show is just extremely charming, and even though I’m usually scared off by anime that’s two cours, I’d like to see this one through to the very end, because I was very entertained by this.

I wasn’t sure why I picked this show up, but after the first episode, I feel like it wasn’t a bad decision. Immediately, I took a liking to Memenpu, a feisty little blonde girl that has a complicated relationship with her dad. That relationship is actually something I really liked in episode one. You can tell he’s trying to be a good father, but Memenpu is already super ambitious and independent, so they just disagree about her upbringing. The setting is pretty interesting, and I like it when the outside world is a mystery waiting to be solved. This episode already had an emotional moment or two, and that’s as good a way as any to hook viewers into watching more.

I’m not going to pretend this is going to be as good as something like Made in Abyss, but this seems to have the makings to be a solid anime. Of course, I’d be extremely surprised if this had any yuri, for reasons including Memempu being only nine-years old, so just know that. 😛

When I was trying to decide which anime to pick up this season, this is the one that jumped out at me the most, just because it’s from Madhouse and MAPPA. It didn’t take long for Takt Op. Destiny to flex some really nice art and animation, and that was enough to keep me hooked throughout the remainder of the episode. I’m sometimes a little wary when an action-oriented anime revolves around music (thanks, Listeners), but I don’t think this felt as far-fetched or ridiculous as some other similar-sounding anime.

Besides the high production values, the comedy and dysfunction between the trio of characters helped keep the mood light, and the characters were quirky enough that it was easy for me to take a liking to them. Overall, I think this is shaping up to be a pretty entertaining series, and in another season that’s devoid of much/any yuri, this could help hold me over until those yuri-ish shows eventually arrive.

As for the lack of a Yuri News Update this month, it’s simple. At this point, I feel like there’s just a lot of news-related stories that we don’t cover adequately enough, such as manga, light novels, and visual novels. Anyone that’s been around YR for a while probably knows that I’m not into manga or light novels (I’ve only ever read one manga from start to finish), and my experience and interest in visual novels is minimal. So instead of just presenting a somewhat half-assed news post again, I think anyone interested in yuri news would be better served visiting a site like YuriMother instead. Encouraging your readers to visit another site is probably not the best way to maintain/grow your audience, but I gotta be honest about it. 😀